How to unsend an email in Gmail
Gmail can take back an email for up to 30 seconds after you send it. Here is how to get the full 30 seconds, and what to do once it is too late.
Gmail does not really recall an email. It waits a few seconds before sending, and gives you an Undo button while it waits. Once that time is up, the email is gone.
Undo right after sending
Right after you send, a small box at the bottom left says Message sent with Undo next to it. Click Undo and the email comes back as a draft. On the Gmail app the box is at the bottom of the screen.
Get 30 seconds instead of 5
Gmail starts at 5 seconds. Make it longer:
- Click the gear, then See all settings.
- On the General tab, find Undo Send.
- Pick 30 seconds.
- Click Save Changes.
Too late?
There is no way to pull an email back from someone's inbox in Gmail. What you can do:
- Send a short correction quickly. "Sorry, ignore the last email, the right file is attached" is better than silence.
- If you sent private information to the wrong person, ask them to delete it.
- Outlook's Recall only works inside the same company's Microsoft accounts, and often fails. It does not work on Gmail.
How to do this in Perfect Mail
After you click Send, Perfect Mail holds the email for 5 seconds and shows Undo send. Click it, or press U, and the email comes back to compose. Press Esc to send it straight away instead.
On the same screen you can set a follow-up: press H and the email comes back to you if nobody replies.